大象传媒

I was at school when the war started, living in Stretham in South London. My sister and I were gearing up to be evacuated to Canada - I didn't know where it was - we were ready to go then it was cancelled. I only found out after the war that the ship was torpedoed and that many children had died.

I stayed in London during the blitz and left school at fourteen to work in an engineering company making components for tanks and aircraft. I joined the Home Guard at fourteen - my father was already a Sergeant in it. The day before my seventeenth birthday the foreman came up to me and asked if I wanted to stay with the company and not be called up ( I was in a reserved occupation job). The next day - the fifteenth of July - I went to Croydon and enlisted into the Royal Engineers. My mother was tearful and my father was angry but he had volunteered to serve in the First World war and so knew how I felt.

After completing my basic training in Scotland I was posted to Aldershot and looking forward to being close

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